Today was my friend Amy's last day at Office Depot. Lucky her, she got out. I'm stuck for a while, we'll see how long this lasts, because I really hate that place sometimes.
My manager, Steve, gave me this book to read, The New Birth Order Book by Dr. Kevin Leman; after he read it he pretty much had me pegged right on as an only child. The more I read it though, I realize that I exhibit a lot of traits of a last born child too. Now, you may wonder why, considering I am an only, but here's why: my mom is the oldest of her two brothers and one sister. The youngest, my Uncle Kraig, is only ten years older than me. Often, my grandmother would babysit me while my mother was at work and while she was finishing her college degree. I developed a lot of the traits of the "baby" of that family, because my uncle was still in the house, so we were vying for attention from Grandma, even though we were separated by ten years. Once I read this book, it explained a lot of my uncle's personality. He doesn't exhibit many traits of being the "baby" of the family, and now I understand why. While I definitely exhibit numerous traits of an "only" it was interesting to find out a little bit more about why I react the way I do. And it also explains the dynamic that my manager, Amy and I all seem to have sometimes, because Amy is the youngest of her family also, even though I am just a functional youngest, and our manager, Steve, is the oldest in his family. Oldest tend to be more serious and driven, and love perfection, and while those are things that are sometimes part of an "only", I missed out on those characteristics. I definitely don't give a crap about perfection (see: any math class I have ever taken). If it is something I am passionate about, then of course. Otherwise, whatever. Youngest children tend to be charmers and manipulators because they are used to getting their way because they are the last of the line and parents have usually eased up by the time the last one arrives. I think this is also partially why, especially when I was younger, if my mother told me no, I went over her head to Grandpa. It didn't sit well between the two of them, but again, I usually ended up getting what I wanted. At least now there is an explanation for me! While this book is not 100% correct about everything of course, it definitely has a lot of good ideas and thoughts, and I definitely recommend it.
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4 comments:
I find that stuff totally interesting. I also find it really interesting when people fall into multiple categories. (Mostly, I feel this way because I fall into multiple categories sometimes.)
I love it too, sometimes I wish I had gone into psychology and sociology and stuff. The book is pretty good without being too preachy about churchy stuff either, which is nice. You should read it. Some of the chapters get a little long, like talking about dealing with birth order in the business world, but otherwise, it's really interesting.
Hmmm.. I am also an only. Would you recommend the book for me to read? Is it interesting? I've never read a book about birth order before. As long as it doesn't tell me only kids are spoiled--- I hate that assumption.
And it's funny because Davey is the youngest in his family but he sounds like he'd be way more of an oldest... weird huh?
Yeah, I never would have guessed he was the baby of his family, but maybe it is because his siblings all act like the youngest that someone had to be the grown-up? Just kidding, kinda...but it does talk about birth order reversals and so for example, Chaz is technically the oldest male, but maybe because he doesn't exhibit those qualities for whatever reason, then it became like Teetz was the oldest male, thus why he acts the way he does. I don't know, he is a tough one to explain.
I would recommend reading it, and surprisingly, I got the impression that youngest children are definitely the spoiled ones, which does make a lot of sense. In terms of onlies, we generally are more serious and have grown up faster because we're mostly around just adults in the formative years until we go to school.
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